http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/keanu-reeves-director-man-tai-chi-273813?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thr%2Ffilm+%28The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Movies%29

:D

Village Roadshow Asia, China Film Group, Wanda Media and Universal Pictures are co-financing the martial arts pic, which will shoot in China.

Universal Pictures is boarding Keanu Reeves' directorial debut Man of Tai Chi, which will be shot in China and co-financed by Village Roadshow Pictures Asia, China Film Group, Wanda Media and Universal.

Reeves, who also will co-star in the martial arts pic, has been in talks with Village Roadshow Asia and China Film Group for months regarding the project. Village Roadshow Asia's affiliates will distribute Man of Tai Chi in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, by China Film Group and Wanda Media Group in China and by Universal in the rest of the world.

Man of Tai Chi reteams Reeves and Village Roadshow, which co-produced and co-financed The Matrix franchise with Warner Bros.

Set in contemporary Beijing, Man of Tai Chi headlines Tiger Chen, who was part of the kung fu team in The Matrix. In Man of Tai Chi, Chen stars as a young martial artist whose fighting skills brings him to a realm of vast opportunities, and painful choices.

Reeves, who is currently in China, will shoot the film in Mandarin and English, and is slated to start production in February.

"We are pleased to announce Man of Tai Chi under the Village Roadshow Pictures Asia label and to extend our long-standing relationship with Keanu," Village Roadshow Entertainment Group CEO Glen Basser said.

Universal International president David Kosse said the opportunity to become further involved in the Chinese market, as well as to bring Chinese films to audiences around the world, is a priority for the studio. "Man of Tai Chi has an amazing pedigree of filmmakers and we're thrilled to be a part of Keanu's directorial debut," he said.

Village Roadshow Asia, Universal Among Backers For Keanu Reeves’ China-Set Directorial Debut ‘Man Of Tai Chi’
By THE DEADLINE TEAM

Village Roadshow Asia, China Film Group and Wanda Media Group are teaming to co-produce Keanu Reeves’ directorial debut, Man Of Tai Chi, which will be co-financed and distributed by the partners and Universal Studios. The action drama is set in modern Beijing and centers on the spiritual journey of a young martial artist (Tiger Chen) whose skills create both vast opportunities and painful choices; Reeves will co-star.

Lemore Syvan is producing. The production will shoot in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau beginning in February, and the plan is to make a film that targets the vast China market as well as the rest of the world. Village Roadshow will distribute the film in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore; China Film Group and Wanda in China; and Universal the rest of the world including the U.S. “The opportunity to get further involved in the Chinese market and to bring Chinese films to audiences around the world is important to Universal,” Universal’s President, International David Kosse said in the release announcing the project. “Man of Tai Chi has an amazing pedigree of filmmakers and we’re thrilled to be a part of Keanu’s directorial film debut.”

Glad this will be in the US as well.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Generation Um...
Henry's Crime

And now also Man of Tai Chi.

Keanu definitely likes her, that much is obvious. :-)

http://twitpic.com/7uzuml

I felt all proud and stuff.

Maybe Universal's involvement ups the chances of US distribution? Anyway, Keanu knows he has tons of fans here who will watch him in pretty much anything. I am sure he will be pushing for the largest distribution possible.

Looks like Lemore was involved with his more recent work.

I'm really excited to see how this movie comes about. Did he officially announce the actress to play the lead yet? I know he was looking... do we have a script?

http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2011-12/19/content_24191871.htm

More about her:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0596297/

Here is a link to a snippet about the film.

http://www.martialartscentral.com/article.php?id=152

One of the few American A-listers to actually make a real impact on Kung Fu cinema fans thanks largely to the Wachowski Brothers' "The Matrix" films, Keanu Reeves is set to try his hand behind the camera with the upcoming "Man of Tai Chi."

It's not uncommon for A list celebrities to get involved in directing in order to create vanity projects, but seeing an actor dedicating himself to the craft of creating the entertaining spectacle of a good Kung Fu movie is almost unheard of outside of Hong Kong.

More than just a hired gun director, Keanu Reeves actually developed this project from the ground up around Tiger Chen Hu, the protege of Kung Fu legend Yuen Woo-Ping, a close friend of Keanu Reeves since their work together on the Matrix films.

The film is set to feature Master Yuen Woo-Ping as fight choreographer and Reeves promises that the film will contain at least eighteen fight sequences comprising a good forty minutes of the film's running time. This should be a refreshing change of pace from the too-little-too-late Kung Fu cinema that often comes from the western film industry thanks to a combination of inexperienced actors and directors and the western market's historical lean towards dramatic, dialog driven films.

The box office returns on films like "Kill Bill," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and every new Jackie Chan release suggest that the western market may be ready to join in the Kung Fu scene with films like "The Man of Tai Chi" leading the charge.

Reeves, who has spent the last year in Hong Kong casting for the film and has put much of his own money into the film's production with help from Village Roadshow, promises the film, which will have begun shooting in late December 2011, to be released in 2012. The film will feature Mandarin and English language dialog and may star Reeves, who has been re-trained by Master Woo-Ping for the film, as the movie's villain.

This news may seem out of left field, but if the film is a success we may see a whole new market for American Kung Fu movies in the near future.

Village Roadshow Asia, China Film Group, Wanda Media and Universal Pictures are co-financing the martial arts pic, which will shoot in China.